The Canadian immigration policy is designed so that it lets in people that will boost the economy and will be assets to Canada. The conservatives are not the most supportive of immigration even though they are all about a healthy economy. In 2010 the conservative government changed the legislation that provided protection for people with refugee status. “A key element of the proposed reform is the ability to deport individuals more quickly when their claims for asylum are denied (Przygoda, 2010, p.39). So if an officer thinks that a refugees claim does not meet the required criteria, the refugee or immigrant can be deported to their home country right away. Refugees can be separated into two groups. Convention refugees, who are people that cannot return to their home land due to oppression against race, religion, political opinion, nationality, membership of a particular social group and sexual orientation. Or they need to be identified as a person in need of protection, that may have risks to their life, danger of torture etc if they return to their country. Even though most refugees are from poverty stricken , terrible conditions, the conservatives still voted to have them deported quickly if their claims were not approved.
“Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s news release and the subsequent news coverage of the issue openly played into public anxieties about immigrants taking advantage of the refugee protection system and costing Canadian taxpayers thousands of dollars in social service and health care costs” (Przygoda, 2010, p.39). Conservatives are concerned that all their hard earned money is used to support immigrants and refugees that Canada takes in but as an immigrant myself, I know that immigration is an expensive process. There are high processing fees, landing fees and they ask you to bring large sums of cash when you arrive in Canada. So I personally feel that the money spent on supporting immigrants after they move to Canada, has mostly been paid by the immigrant themselves.
“Neo-conservatives have blamed much of the economic crisis on the welfare state” (Mullaly, 2007, p.73). Even though most immigrants have an education and job experience, sometimes they too need to depend on the welfare system. Moving to a different country is not an easy task and it comes with many hardships. Conservatives group immigrants into two categories. Good immigrant and bad immigrant. The good immigrant is the educated, hard working person that sees living in Canada as a blessing. The bad immigrant is the person that falsely tries to seek refugee status, lives off welfare and does not want to adapt to Canadian culture (Przygoda, 2010, p.39).
Ley wrote “One of the initial indicators of the transition to an economically guided policy was the creation of the investor or business class as a subset of the larger ‘‘skilled’’ category. In 1986, Canada created a separate—and significantly more lenient—point system for entrepreneurs and investors”. Harrison wrote, “These actions were driven by the government’s desire to attract affluent migrants leaving Hong Kong and to ‘‘bring more millionaires to Canada’’ (as cited in Walsh, 2008, p.800). Even though the immigration policies have these “skilled worker” categories and makes people think that having education can land them a job in the same field, this is not always the case. Many of these “skilled” workers come to Canada and end up working for minimum wage and face many barriers in employment. “In a country founded by immigrants who claimed rights to a land that wasn’t theirs, Canadians are hardly in a position to feel entitled to set the house rules about who gets to enjoy the privileges of life in Canada and who doesn’t (Przygoda, 2010, p.39). I think this statement says it all, when you are living in a land that is not rightfully yours can you point fingers at others and ask them to leave?
-Iresha
References
Przygoda, A. (2010). Cashing in on the border: the Ugly economic calculations driving immigration policy in Canada. Briarpatch , 39.
Walsh, J. (2008). Navigating Globalization: Immigration Policy in Canada and Australia 1945-2007. Sociological Forum , 786-813.
Mullaly, B. (2007). The New Structural Social Work. Canada: Oxford University Press.
Moving to a new country definitely isn't an easy task! I really like how you covered the fact that even immigrants and refugees who had good careers in their old country most likely won't get that same career here. My cousin who just came here recently was an engineer in the Philippines and now she slices meat at a factory.
ReplyDelete- Adrienne A.
What I find interesting is that now matter what government is in power how need and in danger are not always defined the same it can be as broad or as narrow as they want. i think that it is safe to say that I have been around long enough to say that I have seen some vary strange things. Several years ago there was a group of men that were found to have refugee status and it was later found out that they were part of a child smuggling ring and it took forever to deal with these guys yet on the other had there is the case of the three amegos who i feel were not treated fairly.
ReplyDeleteLisa
This was a really well written post, good job! You explained everything really well which made it easy to understand. I like how you included your own perspective of being an immigrant. It's interesting to hear of personal experiences and how the policies dealt with them. I agree with you that with all the fees it costs to immigrate to Canada, it really does seem that the "extra help" that immigrants receive is really their own money that they paid in the first place when getting to Canada. It's unfair to refugees that they can be deported if they don't suit the claims. I think this is completely wrong, what kind of message does this send about Canadians? We don't seem too welcome now.
ReplyDeleteDora